This one was a ton of fun, but also very challenging! I've never really done anything with this much metallic and reflective material, so trying to capture that was definitely tough. In the words of Sakurai, "Maintaining his NES look was a top priority." I wanted to capture the essence of his sprite while still staying true to the promo art as well, so the body proportions fall kind of in between the two. Plus, I wanted to add some details that you might find on real medieval armor to some degree. Trying to interpret a character in a new way is always difficult, because I want to stay true to the original artist's vision as much as possible. Given the style of the official Shovel Knight promo art, I did have to kind of reinvent some things, such as the leg armor.

I was a bit torn between this pose and a running pose. I feel like Shovel Knight's run cycle is quite iconic and demonstrates a lot of character. However, I ended up doing something that pays homage to his primary method of attack: shoveling. I wanted a pose that looks a bit like he's rearing to start charging headlong into battle, shovel first. I also wanted to capture the rigidity of his movements as an 8bit character, which is a quality that I think he should share with Megaman, were he to be in the game.

Trying to figure out ways to distress the armor in a way that looks convincingly tactile was also an interesting challenge. I plan to post a tutorial of my findings, so stay tuned for that.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, and I hope I met your expectations!

I also have an announcement! I'll be partnering with Chris Sczcesiul Zesiul to produce the art for Smashified going forward! The goal is to be able to make more characters more quickly, and I'm confident in his abilities to replicate the Smash style. I hope you guys are all looking forward to what we make together.

As always, if you want to suggest a character, the best way to do that is in the comments on the YouTube video or on twitter. Wherever you post your suggestion, make sure to use the hashtag (#smashified) so that it's easier for me to find your suggestions.

Also, special thanks to Chris for giving me really great feedback during the creation process. He's a cool dude.

Good Smashified episode! I love it and I love your style. My one main critique is that It doesn't look quite as textured as it could be especially around his chest plate. If you added some more detail in that area (for example, you could overlay a steel-like texture on the chest plate), it certainly would add a lot to your Shovel Knight artwork. Also, the pose seems a little bit awkward. The shovel's handle also could be a little more wooden looking. Also, I have an idea that you could possibly do. Maybe you could make the shovel look a little more worn and tattered. This would add more depth to it. Other than that, this drawing is nearly perfect, great job by you!

Because "Shovel Knight" is such an amazing game to play, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make an appearance in the next "Super Smash Bros." game, especially since they were able to release an Amiibo for the Nintendo versions of his game.

edit: also i found out who made the fake amiibo box art, a redditor by the name of getmeoutofcleveland www.reddit.com/r/amiibo/commen… bottom of the thread he links it here as 'here i made you this'. as a result retail sites are now using this as the 'official' art for a 'rumored' shovel knight amiibo.

saw the youtube artist video regarding this and aside from telling you the obvious (that this is absolutely godlike and you're amazing for doing this), I wanted to know more about the process of how you created this piece. I know the commentary mentioned vector masks and such, but that kind of went over my head. Whatever it was, it looked like it made creating and shading individual pieces of base color much easier and faster to create and was hoping if you had a tutorial or a step-by-step process guide.

Well, since so many other people are giving ideas, I might as well give one too How about Prince Fluff of Kirby's Epic Yarn? He was one of my favorite ideas for a newcomer and I think a lot of people would love to see him #smashified.

I'm already a huge fan of your project so far, and I can say for sure that this has not changed. If anything, I'm an even bigger fan, having just come out of playing Shovel Knight for a weekend. Very fine choice, sir!